The Hunt
by HermioneTwin
Summary: Hermione and Fred set off for a scavenger hunt, but will they discover something other than random objects along the way? What will their true prize end up being? Simply pie, or something more? Written for the Twin Exchange monthly challenge!


**A/N: Pairings and prompts: Pie, Fred/Hermione and "Is that…maple syrup?"**

**Hope that you guys all enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K Rowling in any way whatsoever, no matter how many times I may think or dream about it. Wishing doesn't work either…believe me. Not that I've tried or anything. **

**The Hunt**

"Hermione, dearest!" Mrs.Weasley exclaimed as she threw the front door to the Burrow open, nearly knocking it off of its hinges, "I'm so glad you could make it!"

"Thanks Mrs.Weasley," Hermione replied with a smile, before being engulfed in a warm, motherly hug.

"Am I the last one here?" she asked, as they both made their way over to the back yard.

Mrs.Weasley nodded her head. "Everyone's here except for Bill. He's still stuck at work," she said. "But why _she_ had to come along anyway, is beyond me," she muttered with a scowl, leaving no doubt in Hermione's mind as to whom she was referring to.

"Hermione!" Three separate voices cried as both women entered the yard.

Hermione just had to laugh as she watched Harry, Ginny and Ron run over to her, all three of them beaming and waving like lunatics.

"I'm so glad you could make it!" Ginny shouted, disengaging her hand from Harry's and throwing her arms around her best friend.

"Why does everyone keep on saying that? I _always_ come to the Weasley family reunions." Hermione said, pulling away from Ginny, so as to hug Ron and Harry in turn.

"Well, it's just that with your big shot job at the Ministry, we expected you to be much too busy for petty, juvenile things such as scavenger hunts, my dear." George teased, coming over to greet her as well.

"I don't have a _big shot_ job!" Hermione protested. "I don't!" she continued to object as all four of them rolled their eyes dramatically. She was going to argue some more but was cut off by another greeting from behind.

"Hermione, dahlin'! So nice to see you!"

Hermione whipped around to see Fred walking toward her with a huge smile on his face.

Her heart momentarily stopped at the sight of him, but it was shocked back into beating as Fred grabbed her by the waist and twirled her around.

"You're certainly feeling overly affectionate today," she said breathlessly as he gently set her back down onto her feet and gave her another dazzling smile.

Fred shrugged. "Whenever you're around," was his response.

Hermione blushed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw George lean over and whisper something in Ginny's ear. Ginny started to giggle and then leaned over toward Harry, presumably to repeat what George had just said.

Hermione felt her cheeks redden even more. Not only was Fred's comment making her head whir, but she had the distinct feeling that whatever her friends were whispering about, it had something to do with her and Fred.

An exaggerated wink from George was enough to confirm her suspicions.

"So…" she began nervously, shifting her position from one foot to another foot, "what was that about a scavenger hunt?" she asked, not really curious but wanting to change the subject.

It worked. Ginny stopped whispering and took to rolling her eyes again.

"Dad's idea," she sighed. "I swear, the man's going loopy in the head. He thought it would be _fun_ to hold a scavenger hunt instead of simply having a nice supper as we usually do."

Hermione laughed. "Well, it can't be any worse than the time we played Pictionary," she said, glancing over at Fred and George with a smirk.

"What?" They both exclaimed at once, throwing their hands up into the air with identical looks of innocence.

"We swear that the images were doing those things on their own!" Fred said, eyes wide and childlike.

"Yeah! It's not our fault if squirrels get so horny this time of year!" George added.

Ron and Harry burst out laughing while Hermione and Ginny gave each other a discouraged look, quietly conveying the expression, "boys will be boys!" with their eyes.

"Little children!" Fleur abruptly called from the other side of the yard. "Come, ze adults are waiting!"

Hermione heard Ginny hiss a string of offensive words as Fred shot a smirk in Fleur's direction. "We're coming, little old lady!" he cried back.

The girls tried not to giggle too loudly at Fleur's affronted look, as they made their way over toward the group of "adults". They needn't have worried though…Ron and Harry were both howling loud enough to cover up a shrieking banshee.

"Right," Mr.Weasley began, once they were all gathered together, Fleur still glaring at Fred, and Harry and Ron still snickering behind their hands, "here's how this is going to work. Molly and I have both hidden assorted objects in the small forest near the house. Each of you will be allowed a list of the objects, as well as a watch to keep tabs on your progress, during the hunt. There are 14 items. At the end of one hour, the couple who has found the most objects wins," he explained. "All clear?"

Everyone nodded.

Hermione was beginning to feel slightly excited. As silly as this may be, she could still tell that it was going to be fun.

"But, what are we going to win, exactly?" Charlie asked.

Mrs.Weasley grinned. "Pie," she said simply.

Hermione snorted as everyone's eyes widened in disappointment.

"Pie?" George exclaimed. "That's all we get? Pie?"

Mrs.Weasley's eyes flashed. "It's pie or nothing, George. But, you do have a choice to make. You can either smile and eat it with your mouth or you can complain and eat it with your face," she said sweetly.

That effectively shut everyone up.

Mr.Weasley glanced over at his wife with an appreciative smile. "Right. So, here are the lists," he said, as he waved his wand over the wooden table located near the group, making eight identical pieces of parchment appear onto its surface, "and here are the watches," he added, waving his wand again to make the watches materialize as well. "Pick your teams everyone!"

Hermione's mind immediately jumped to Ginny, but before she could even turn her head around to meet eyes with her, she felt a warm hand place itself on her shoulder. She didn't even need to look to know who the owner of the hand was…the instant tightening of her stomach told her everything she needed to know.

"Be my partner?" Fred asked, as Hermione spun around to face him.

She tried to give him her most radiant smile. "Sure!" she said, blushing as he smiled back and took her by the hand to lead her over to the wooden table.

Hermione picked up a list and began to read. Halfway through, she was giggling like mad. Some of the objects were so random!

There was a pickle, an AA battery, a banana, a sickle, a bottle of Firewhiskey, a pair of boxer shorts written, "Do the Hustle!" on them, a curly black wig, a jar of maple syrup, a book entitled, "Llama Training for Dummies", a porcelain flamingo, a werewolf mask, a spotted apricot, a Russian dictionary and a bag of conversation hearts.

"Those boxers used to be mine," Fred whispered, leaning over toward her. Hermione had to work real hard on not laughing out loud as Mr.Weasley began to speak again.

"Is everybody ready then?" he asked, glancing around at the couples.

Everyone nodded once more. Hermione looked around at the others, sticking her tongue out playfully at Harry and Ron who were both cracking their knuckles teasingly in her direction. When Fred noticed this, he slid a protective arm around Hermione's waist and pulled a face at the boys. Hermione thought about telling him to knock it off, but if she was being honest with herself, she enjoyed the feel of his warm arm around her way too much for that. Protesting would be idiotic.

She was so content in her own little bubble of happiness, that she had to shake her head from its bliss as Mr.Weasley announced the beginning of the race and Fred began to pull her toward the forest's edge.

* * *

"Come on Fred! It's been twenty whole minutes and all that we've found so far is that stupid pickle!" Hermione exclaimed through her laughter, as Fred once more came to an abrupt stop, this time to break off two branches from the nearest tree and stick them into his mouth.

"I'm not Fred! I'm a walrus," was his response.

Hermione just shook her head as he began to nudge her with his makeshift tusks.

"Fine, then. Be a walrus. But can we keep on looking around even if you've just warped into a different species?" she asked. Fred had been goofing around since the beginning of their search. Hermione couldn't deny that she was having the time of her life, but she still didn't want to finish last.

Fred frowned and scratched at the branches in his mouth as he pretended to think, making Hermione giggle for the hundredth time that day.

He finally shrugged happily in agreement and chucked the sticks to the ground. "Never knew you were quite so obsessed with pie, Hermione dearest."

Hermione rolled her eyes as they started to march along again, weaving around tree trunks and dodging the particularly pointy looking twigs that were sticking out here and there.

"Well, I'm hungry," she said teasingly.

Fred grinned. "Eat the pickle then," he said, throwing it her way.

"Hey!" she cried, as the pickle hit her head and fell to the ground.

Grumbling, she knelt over to pick up their only object. She scowled as something shiny suddenly caught her eye.

"Fred? What is that?" she asked.

When she got no response, she turned around to look at him.

Fred's eyes were glazed over as they met her gaze. He smiled at her. "Sorry, was busy staring at your rear. You really shouldn't bend over like that Hermione, someone could take advantage," he said, nodding his head seriously as Hermione's jaw dropped open. "Anyway, I'll go check it out, babe!" he said cheerfully, before bounding off toward the glimmering object.

Hermione was left to stare after him in wonder. How she had ever developed feelings for that outrageously silly boy was beyond her.

* * *

Another twenty minutes later, Hermione and Fred now held three objects in their possession. The shiny item had turned out to be the sickle, and they had also stumbled upon the jar of maple syrup, when Fred had fallen over a boulder he had been dancing on.

Hermione was laughing at Fred's latest impressions, when they were interrupted by a loud, chuckling sort of noise.

Frowning at each other, they made their way toward the noise, which was coming from a small clearing to their left.

The scene that met their eyes left them both gasping for air.

Harry and Ron were sitting in the middle of the clearing, giggling at nothing in particular, with the now empty bottle of Firewhiskey at their feet. Not a drop had been spared.

Ron had the curly wig placed lopsidedly onto his head, and Harry was reading 'Llama training for Dummies' upside down, wearing the pair of boxer shorts as a hat.

Ron was chanting "Do the Hustle" over and over again, combing his fingers through his curly black hair.

He suddenly stopped chanting as he caught sight of Fred and Hermione.

"Hey, guys!" he called, much more loudly then was really necessary. "What comes after those lyrics again?" he asked, scratching at his wig.

"No idea," Fred shrugged as he dragged a still hysterical Hermione toward the drunken twosome.

Ron took to tapping his chin as he tried to figure out the answer to his question. He even started to dance a little as well, making Hermione crack up even more. This seemed to catch Ron's attention. "Why are you laughing 'Mione?" he demanded, wiggling his hips around as he spoke. "Why's she laughing at me, Harry?" he asked again, when Hermione failed to answer him (as she was very nearly panting for breath). Upon receiving no answer, Ron turned around to face his drunken friend, only to see that he was now snoring over his copy of 'Llama Training for Dummies'.

This, for some inexplicable reason, was unbelievingly funny to Ron, and he was sent into an increasingly uproarious giggling fit.

Hermione, finally having regained a bit of composure, glanced over at Fred with a cocked eyebrow. They both nodded at each other, smiling evilly, and began to collect the items around the pair.

Hermione conjured up a bag, into which Fred deposited the wig, the boxers, the book, the empty bottle of alcohol and the bag of conversation hearts that had actually been residing under Ron's wig.

They both looked over at Harry and Ron once more. Ron was still rolling around on the floor, clutching at his sides, and Harry was now positively drooling. They wouldn't be noticing the absence of their objects any time soon.

Snorting and desperately trying to not burst into laughter again, they quietly made their way toward the line of trees. Once hidden from Harry and Ron's view, Hermione threw herself into Fred's arms, laughing too hard to hold herself upright anymore.

"That-was-priceless!" Fred gasped, having succumbed to laughter as well.

Hermione nodded against his chest. "I am _never_ going to let them forget that!" she exclaimed.

Suddenly noticing just how close she actually was to Fred, Hermione quickly pulled back, her cheeks tinged with pink once more.

"Let's keep on going then, shall we?" she said hastily, sprinting off deeper into the forest.

Fred shook his head and chuckled, happy to have a clear view of Hermione's rear end once more.

* * *

"Hey, Hermione, UR 2 CUTE!" Fred said, after ten more minutes of walking.

Realizing that they really had quite enough items collected already, Hermione and Fred had decided to take it easy and to just stroll around the forest for the few minutes they had left.

Fred had been entertaining himself by eating the conversation hearts, and Hermione was reading 'Llama Training for Dummies' as she walked.

She rolled her eyes at Fred's comment. "Yeah, right," she sighed.

Fred frowned at her. "Ok then, ummm…" he said as he searched through the bag. "Be Mine?" he asked.

Hermione snorted.

"Love U?"

Hermione ignored him. His jokes had been cute at first, but she suddenly found herself quite annoyed by his comments. His reading those little candy hearts was only making her realize that he would never actually say those things to her, and it was making her quite depressed and moody.

"Kiss Me?" he asked.

She just shook her head in exasperation and continued to walk on.

Hermione scowled as Fred suddenly stopped walking and sauntered off toward a patch off moss, which he plopped down onto.

"What are you doing?" she asked, making her way over to a now pouting Fred.

"Sulking," was his answer.

Hermione's scowl deepened. "Why?" she asked.

Fred looked at her with sad eyes. "Cause you ignored me when I said that I loved you and you shook your head when I asked you for a kiss," he said unhappily.

Hermione's eyes widened. "But…you were joking around!" she exclaimed.

Fred's eyes bored into hers. "Was I?" he asked.

Hermione gave a shaky little laugh. "Of course… of course you were," she whispered uncertainly, raking a hand through her unruly curls.

Fred's mouth was suddenly upon hers and she couldn't prevent the gasp that escaped her lips. Her brain went numb as he began to gently move his soft lips against hers, and she wasn't the one in control of her hands anymore as they had their way into his fiery hair.

Not a single coherent thought could be found in Hermione's brain as Fred pulled back and stared into her eyes again.

The only thing she could find to say was, "Is that…maple syrup?"

Fred smiled goofily. "I ate some while you were reading," he laughed.

Hermione found herself smiling like a loon as well. "So, um, you _weren't _joking around then?" she asked breathlessly.

Fred's grin widened and he rolled his eyes. "Duh!" he exclaimed, as he grasped her hand and pulled her up to her feet.

"Wanna go and collect our prize now, babe?" he asked, entwining his arms around her waist.

Hermione beamed and shook her head. "Couldn't we just stay here for a while longer? I wasn't quite finished with your lips yet. Besides, I'm a winner already."

* * *

**Review please!**


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